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Why has child care legislation developed along its present course? How did the political players influence lawmakers? What do the politics of child care legislation over the past thirty years indicate for the future? Based on more than one hundred interviews with legislators and executive branch officials, archival research, and secondary sources, this book looks at the politics behind child care legislation, rather than analyzing child care as a work and family issue.
Identifying key junctures at which major child care bills were introduced and debated (1971, 1990, and 1996), Sally Cohen examines the politics surrounding each of these events and identifies the political structures and negotiations that evolved in the intervening years. In addition, Cohen looks at the impact the election of President Clinton has had on child care policymaking, and how child care legislation became part of other issues, including welfare reform, crime prevention, school readiness, and tax policy revisions.
List of contents
Foreword by Senator Christopher Dodd
1. Introduction
Why Study Child Care Politics?
Context of the Book
2. Politics of Child Care Legislation, 1971
Overview of the Book
3. From Political Stalemate to Welfare Entitlement, 1972-1988
Prelude to Child Care Legislation of 1971
4. Politics of Child Care Legislation, 1987-1990
Child Care Lands on the Legislative Agenda
5. Regulations, Implementation, and High Expectations, 1991-1993
Moving Child Care Through Congress
6. Child Care and Welfare Reform, 1994--1996
Nixon and Child Care: A Battle Among the President's Men
7. High Hopes, 1997-2000
The Demise of Child Care Legislation
8. A View from the States, 1996--2000
Federal Interagency Day Care Regulations
9. Looking Back and to the Future
The Early 1980s: Retrenchment and Regrouping
Welfare Reform Features the First Federal Child Care Entitlement
Launching a Child Care Initiative
The Other Side of the Story: Conservatives Offer Competing Proposals
1989: Senate Success
1989: The House Imbroglio over Child Care Legislation
1990: The Last Chance
Placing Child Care Regulations in Context
CCDBG Regulations Spark Feuds over Standards and Other Concerns
At-Risk Child Care Regulations Add More Fuel to the Fire
Implementing the 1990 Child Care Package
1993: A New Political Era
1994: Elections Set a New Stage for Child Care
Child Care and Welfare Reform Legislation
The Changed Face of Political Action for Child Care and Children
1997: New Opportunities for Child Care
1998: New Twists for Child Care Legislation
Ushering Federal Child Care Policy into the Twenty-first Century
Child Care and American Federalism
Federal Child Care Regulations Revisited
Impact of Welfare Reform on Child Care
Linking Child Care with Other Early Education Initiatives
It's Not Just Women's Participation in the Labor Force
What's Institutional Structure Got to Do with It?
The Influence of Organized Interests
Looking Ahead
State Child Care Policies Assume a New Look
About the author
Sally S. Cohen. Introduction by Sen. Christopher Dodd
Summary
Looks at the politics behind child care legislation. Identifying junctures at which child care bills were introduced and debated, this book examines the politics surrounding each of these events and identifies the political structures and negotiations that evolved. It also looks at how child care legislation became part of other issues.
